Fitness applications provide promises of improved health and motivation but in reality foster an unhealthy platform for social comparison, promoting addictive behaviours and distorted self-worth overshadowing the intent of genuine well-being. Fitness applications have become tools used to track exercise, monitor nutritional intake, and provide personalised training programs. Their popularity aligns with a growing fascination with health optimisation and self-improvement.
Regular exercise is widely known to promote a healthy lifestyle and improve mental health. Through exercise we can see a positive impact on the neurochemistry of the brain, releasing mood boosting hormones, and improving overall effects of depression (Hossain et al., 2024). Activities such as running, cycling and strength training have all demonstrated to positively impact mood by releasing serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. As outlined on the blog post NETS2001 by MGrainger, strength training further supports the necessity of healthy life and healthy mind. However, with the growth of digital technology we have seen a spill of applications leak into the fitness industry. Beneath these assurances lies a troubling contradiction: the very technologies designed to improve mental and physical health can simultaneously facilitate harmful social comparisons, promote addictive patterns of behaviour, and distort self-worth.
The act of running and tracking progress has shifted drastically from a goal of personal health to purely gaining dopamine in the form of public comparison with the aid of digital applications. Regular physical activity is widely recognised as beneficial for mental health, often producing what is popularly known as the “runner’s high”. However, when exercise becomes heavily mediated through technology, the pursuit of natural enjoyment is replaced by a pursuit of “performance data.” Instead of running for pleasure, users begin running forpace, distance, rankings, calories burned, or the approval of a digital community. Applications like Strava have exemplified this shift, turning physical activity into a social scoreboard, where distance and pace are often measured by the number of “kudos” received. While some may find these features motivating, the underlying psychological mechanism is less positivewith the applications relying on upward social comparison. Users inevitably compare themselves to others who seem faster, slimmer, more disciplined, or more “successful.” The pressure to gain social approval and maintain visibility contributes to overtraining, burnout, and feelings of shame when an activity does not meet perceived standards. For some, this leads to compulsive exercise behaviours, as the need for digital validation.
Similarly, apps such as MyFitnessPal (MFP) which boasts 311 million users (Ang, 2020) along with the influence of social media and diet culture have made calorie counting and body tracking a normalised yet potentially harmful part of everyday life.
For many young users, these tools blur the line between motivation and obsession, leading to unhealthy self-comparison and distorted relationships with exercise and food. While these technologies can certainly motivate and educate, Fitness applications can encourage harmful behaviours, focusing on social comparison and the impact these tools have on self-worth and genuine well-being.
Fitness applications are marketed as tools designed to motivate users, help track progress and form healthier habits. Yet, the social features that are meant to encourage community support often transform into mechanisms for unhealthy comparison. These applications saw a rapid growth of up to 46% during the COVID 19 pandemic as users sought a way to keep active states World Economic Forum (2020). Strava, first developed in 2009 with over a million users (Russell et al., 2022), is one of the most widely used fitness tracking applications. Its interface is built around social visibility where users share their runs publicly, receive “kudos” (a form of likes), compare their performance to others, and compete on ranked segments.
The “kudos” system, for example, turns exercise achievements into a form of social currency. Rather than celebrating the satisfaction of completing a run or improving endurance, users look for external approval. Russell et al. (2022), describes how the impact of social networking can play on creating a sense of community but with this it can establish an environment for competition, perceived under-performance or maladaptive physical activity. A slower run, fewer kilometres, or a missed day can feel like a public failure rather than a normal part of training distorting a user’s perception of success. The satisfaction derived from closing daily rings on Apple Fitness or maintaining a streak on Fitbit as an example can become psychologically binding. Missing a day may evoke guilt, disappointment, or anxiety far out of proportion to the actual health effect of skipping a workout. As seen below there are numerous tutorials teaching people how to align with the latest trends to show the provided statistics. These further push the agenda that the faster, further or more extreme you run, will gain you ”kudos”.
The platform becomes less about community and more about ranking, subtly reinforcing the belief that worth is tied to numbers: pace, distance, and frequency. For young or impressionable users, this environment can be particularly harmful, resulting in internalising these metrics as indicators of personal value. Instead of experiencing the psychological benefits traditionally associated with exercise. Whilst these features can feel motivating in moderation, they often shift focus away from personal growth and towards competitive validation.
MyFitnessPal (MFP) has increasingly been linked to the development and reinforcement of disordered eating behaviours, particularly among adolescents and vulnerable individuals, as its detailed calorie and macronutrient tracking encourages an obsessive approach to food intake. While MFP is marketed as a tool to assist in weight management and healthier food choices, its calorie-tracking system can rapidly become obsessive. It allows users to log every item consumed and providing precise nutritional information, through tools like barcode scanning. Anderberg et al. (2025), conducted research on the effects of data metric-based fitness applications and the coloration of promoting unhealthy eating habits. The results showed evidence that people who use these apps are more likely to report restrictive eating and body dissatisfaction. MFP supports this research as it reduces health to numerical targets, promoting a mindset where exceeding a daily limit by even a small margin is perceived as failure. This numerical goal can lead to compulsive tracking, restrictive patterns of eating, and a detachment from natural hunger cues, ultimately mirroring behaviours characteristic of conditions such as anorexia nervosa and orthorexia. The applications streak system rewards consecutive days of logging, reinforcing compulsive use and creating guilt or anxiety when streaks are broken, which further entrenches unhealthy patterns. Another dimension of harm arises from the illusion of precision that fitness apps convey. These platforms present their data which include pace, calories burned, macros and heart rate zones. Yet the algorithms behind these metrics are often approximate. Calories burnt estimates vary widely between devices, and nutritional databases contain inaccuracies. YouTuber Rosie Campbell discusses her experiences with MFP and apps alike, and how its impacted her eating disorder and health.
The platform becomes less about community and more about ranking, subtly reinforcing the belief that worth is tied to numbers: pace, distance, and frequency. For young or impressionable users, this environment can be particularly harmful, resulting in internalising these metrics as indicators of personal value. Instead of experiencing the psychological benefits traditionally associated with exercise. Whilst these features can feel motivating in moderation, they often shift focus away from personal growth and towards competitive validation.
MyFitnessPal (MFP) has increasingly been linked to the development and reinforcement of disordered eating behaviours, particularly among adolescents and vulnerable individuals, as its detailed calorie and macronutrient tracking encourages an obsessive approach to food intake. While MFP is marketed as a tool to assist in weight management and healthier food choices, its calorie-tracking system can rapidly become obsessive. It allows users to log every item consumed and providing precise nutritional information, through tools like barcode scanning. Anderberg et al. (2025), conducted research on the effects of data metric-based fitness applications and the coloration of promoting unhealthy eating habits. The results showed evidence that people who use these apps are more likely to report restrictive eating and body dissatisfaction. MFP supports this research as it reduces health to numerical targets, promoting a mindset where exceeding a daily limit by even a small margin is perceived as failure. This numerical goal can lead to compulsive tracking, restrictive patterns of eating, and a detachment from natural hunger cues, ultimately mirroring behaviours characteristic of conditions such as anorexia nervosa and orthorexia. The applications streak system rewards consecutive days of logging, reinforcing compulsive use and creating guilt or anxiety when streaks are broken, which further entrenches unhealthy patterns. Another dimension of harm arises from the illusion of precision that fitness apps convey. These platforms present their data which include pace, calories burned, macros and heart rate zones. Yet the algorithms behind these metrics are often approximate. Calories burnt estimates vary widely between devices, and nutritional databases contain inaccuracies. YouTuber Rosie Campbell discusses her experiences with MFP and apps alike, and how its impacted her eating disorder and health.
For impressionable persons already navigating unrealistic body standards online, MFP can intensify insecurity by shifting focus from holistic well-being to strict calorie control, it is the developer’s responsibility to acknowledge and consider the physiological impacts of their design (Anderberg et al., 2025). Consequently, although MFP is marketed as a tool for promoting health awareness, its features can inadvertently undermine mental health and contribute to the onset or escalation of eating disorders.
The emphasis on measurable success has resulted in obsession over how user view progress. In an era dominated by social media, the rise of fitness influencers and curated online lifestyles has reshaped what society considers “healthy” or “fit”. Influencers often present highly trained physiques, strict routines, and flawless progress photos, creating unrealistic expectations for ordinary users. Youth and adolescents, who form a significant portion of fitness app users, are particularly susceptible to these ideals. They may believe that achieving health requires extreme discipline, perfectly tracked diets, and constant progression. Which can lead to negative views of body image and self-worth. The fitness applications, which should enhance mental well-being, become a source of anxiety.
Baig et al, (2023), highlights how social media isn’t just a passive space for fitness inspiration; it plays an active role in influencing health-related behaviour. If a user does not hit a certain pace, maintain a streak, or burn enough calories, they feel inadequate. Their sense of worth becomes tied to quantifiable outputs rather than holistic health. What was once created for the benefit of users has resulted in misuse and lack of genuine wellbeing. To mitigate these negative effects, both developers and users must prioritise mindful engagement with fitness technologies. Ultimately, fitness applications—despite their potential benefits—often cultivate environments that amplify insecurity and reduce well-being. What started as tools for support and motivation become instruments for comparison, obsession, and distorted self-evaluation.
In conclusion, while fitness applications have the capacity to support healthier lifestyles, their design and social features often undermine the very well-being they intend to promote. By prioritising metrics, public visibility, and self-monitoring, these platforms shift the focus of physical activity and nutrition away from the satisfaction of completing exercises and toward external validation, competition, and rigid control. As seen with applications such as Strava and MyFitnessPal, the pursuit of progress becomes entangled with social comparison, numerical obsession, and distorted self-worth. Instead of supporting holistic well-being, they can create cycles of guilt, anxiety, and obsessive self-monitoring. These effects are particularly harmful for young and impressionable users. To safeguard users’ mental and physical health, developers must adopt more responsible design practices and consider the psychological implications. Equally, users must cultivate awareness of how these tools shape their motivations and self-perception. Ultimately, although fitness applications can offer structure, guidance, and community, their unintended consequences reveal the need for a more holistic, ethical, centered approach to digital health.
Sammy Tassone 
digginspaige 
Nicole